IIHL’s first out-of-area Peace Support Operations course

The Institute organized for the very first time its Peace Support Operations course in Jinja (Uganda), aimed at building the capacity of African armed forces on the application of humanitarian law and human rights within the framework of peace support operations carried out by the United Nations and the African Union.

The initiative took place from 19th to 23rd February 2018 and was attended by a group of 25 officials from the six East African Community member states (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda), as well as Malawi, at the Legal Training Centre in Jinja, Uganda.

Peace support operations have assumed a key role within the international security framework for maintaining, enforcing or setting up stable and peaceful conditions, especially in the African continent where conflicts, of different intensity and nature, and widespread human rights violations represent the major cause of migratory flows on this continent. By offering a PSO course to regional organisations of the African Union, all contributing nations of this region have received the same training in this subject, which enhances interoperability between the particular nations.

This initiative was possible thanks the support of the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, USAFRICOM, and the Ugandan Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, and the participation of the the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom, as well as the logistic support of the Legal Training Centre of the Ugandan Peoples’ Defence Force .

This course represented a very efficient capacity-building activity in the legal area and the opportunity to organize a similar PSO Course in Africa again will be considered.